Proceedings Paper

In recent years we have been witnessing implementation of
automatic handling machines in various manufacturing
environments. This, however, has only been applying to large
factories. Whilst for automation and robotics to become a matter
of routine in our industries we need a wide spread of robots and
associated hardware and software in all parts of industry whether
they be large multinational companies or small local companies.
This will partly be possible if cheap, reliable and easily
implementable sensors are introduced to the field.
This paper describes an intensity-modulated optical tactile
sensor. Light transmission in an optical fibre is through
total internal reflection at the core-cladding interface. If
the core-cladding interfaces are parallel, an incident meridional
ray will continue to be reflected and will be transmitted
through the fibre. By applying force to the fibre
one can cause attenuation or transmission loss. The attenuation
in intensity of light transmitted is due mainly to
changes in the angle of reflection at the border of core and
cladding.Any pressure on the fibre will result in refraction
rather than total internal reflection with the subsequent
loss of the light ray into the cladding.